She raised her eyes and coldly said to the old Taoist Qiu not far away: “Sect Master Qiu, whether I’m a demon or a cultivator, I’ve already explained to you. You don’t believe me, so there’s no use saying more. Today, your Blacke Gate forcibly puts the hat of the Demon Race on my head, and wants to use me to achieve some purpose, I don’t care. Originally, if you hadn’t dragged me into this, it would have been fine, but you insist on being biased and repeatedly pressuring me with unfounded accusations. I advise you not to be too complacent, it’s still unknown who will emerge victorious.”

Cultivators’ intuition is extremely keen. Seeing the female cultivator not far away with her hair flying, surrounded by powerful spiritual energy, her face cold and composed, without a trace of fear.

Qiu Runyu’s heart had already sprouted a thread of unease.

But the arrow was already on the string and had to be released. If she couldn’t capture the woman before her today and force her to say that Pei Ziyuan had connections with the Demon Race, she feared all their plans would be greatly compromised.

But the Breath Concealment Stone could only prove that Pei Ziyuan knew about the Emotion Demon affair in advance, which wasn’t sufficient reason to attack and put him to death.

Moreover, Pei Ziyuan’s cultivation had already reached the Tribulation Crossing stage, and might even be past it by now. She couldn’t produce the most favorable human evidence to prove that Pei Ziyuan was indeed a spy in contact with the Demon Race. How could she get the eight major sects to stand on the same side as her to kill Pei Ziyuan and divide the power of the Secluded Immortal Palace?

In the Spirit Realm, once enmity was formed, it was either you die or I perish. She had already offended Pei Ziyuan thoroughly today, and now there was no room for turning back.

Fortunately, the female cultivator before her only had Yuan Ying stage cultivation. Although her spiritual sense was inexplicably powerful for some reason.

But in a real battle, it was a contest of magical treasures, spiritual power, and Dao techniques. She was at the late stage of Perfected Spirit, so she didn’t take her opponent too seriously.

Thinking of this, Qiu Runyu narrowed her eyes, mobilizing the spiritual energy throughout her body. Her natal flying sword shot out from within, standing straight in front of her.

Qiu Runyu stepped forward and grasped the flying sword in her hand. Her gentle eyes instantly became fierce: “If you remain stubborn and unrepentant, don’t blame this old Taoist for showing no mercy.”

The two were about to engage in a magical battle. At this moment in the trial grounds, the Elders of various major sects had already flown into mid-air, blocking Liu Changning’s escape routes, and quickly using spiritual power to set up a light circle to prevent their battle from harming the low-level disciples outside the circle.

Liu Changning raised an eyebrow and looked at Tian Jing and the others. Except for Ju Qu who remained in place, the rest were all scattered in mid-air on their flying instruments.

She smiled playfully: “How about it? Are you all afraid that Sect Master Qiu won’t be able to subdue me alone, and planning to attack together?”

Tian Jing and the others didn’t know whether to speak or not, they just stood outside the light circle, blocking the escape routes, without advancing an inch.

The several old Taoists at the Nascent Soul stage were all hundred-year-old foxes who had cultivated into spirits, they were very clear in their hearts. Today’s series of events in the trial grounds, on the surface it was Blacke Gate capturing a demon who had secretly harmed the sect’s juniors, but underneath there might be countless thoughts.

Now, before the situation in this muddy water was clear, no one was foolish enough to get involved. If Qiu Runyu was willing to capture personally, why not let her?

“Demon woman, stop trying to delay!”

Ginger gets spicier with age, and Qiu Runyu was more composed than Wood Yun. Although there was anger in her voice now, her face remained expressionless, righteously saying: “To deal with a junior like you, this old Taoist is more than enough. You’re a junior, you attack first.”

As soon as these words fell, Liu Changning didn’t hesitate, activating her Heartless Dao technique.

Her current Dao was already very different from the true Heartless Dao scripture. After experiencing the tribulation lightning, going through three lifetimes, experiencing life and death, love and hate, when the seven emotions and six desires returned, all laws returned to one.

When cultivating again, the originally gray and cold true energy had become the color of mystic ice.

In fact, the Heartless Dao technique she was cultivating now was an insight into heaven and earth from four lifetimes of tempering.

The Dao technique’s operation had already surpassed the scope of the Heartless Dao, discarding the dross and selecting the essence, and continuously comprehending it.

As the mental technique operated, true energy gathered in her hand, a flash of white light, and the Water Light Sword appeared in her hand.

Liu Changning didn’t summon Cang Ming. Although Cang Ming was named an Immortal Sword, its power had reached the level of a divine artifact.

Her current cultivation wasn’t enough, forcefully using it across realms would easily lead to backlash. Otherwise, if Cang Ming were to be used, Qiu Runyu wouldn’t have had a chance to speak here.

The Water Light Sword was a spiritual artifact, compared to the immortal sword in Qiu Runyu’s hand, the two were as different as mud and clouds. Qiu Runyu’s Autumn Frost had an almost overwhelming advantage.

“Are you sure you want to use this magical artifact to fight against Old Taoist Qiu?” Pei Ziyuan asked in a deep voice, his little eyes showing clear anxiety.

Liu Changning nodded, seeing the disdain in the eyes of the hemp-clothed Taoist opposite.

She privately explained to Old Ancestor Pei: “With my current cultivation, using a high-level magical artifact to fight across realms would only accelerate the depletion of spiritual power. The Water Light Sword is just right. Don’t worry, Old Ancestor. With the earlier opportunity, my spiritual sense fortunately entered the state of unity between heaven and human. Even if my cultivation can’t keep up, I can clearly see all the battle traces of the old Taoist opposite. Using constancy to respond to change, victory is not impossible.”

Liu Changning didn’t have time to observe the little black bird’s expression, not seeing that its bean-sized little eyes were already shining brightly.

Unity between heaven and human, unless by coincidence, was a state that cultivators often found difficult to achieve in a lifetime. Yet unexpectedly, the female cultivator before him had effortlessly attained such a blessing just now.

It half-lowered its eyelids, not saying anything more.

With her spiritual sense locked onto the hemp-clothed Taoist in front, she could almost see clearly even the movement of her eyelashes in an instant.

As the feeling of her spiritual sense peering became stronger and stronger, a sticky feeling of invasion came with it. Qiu Runyu suddenly felt her body hair standing on end. Although the female cultivator not far away hadn’t moved, she felt as if she was trapped by her.

Qiu Runyu instantly felt as if she was being pricked by needles. Disregarding her previous words of yielding, she summoned her natal immortal sword Autumn Frost, slashing directly towards Liu Changning’s head.

The crowd let out a gasp of surprise. The Sect Master of Blacke Gate’s sudden change of heart was indeed a violation of a lady’s righteousness.

In fact, Qiu Runyu was crying bitterly inside at this moment. Because of the feeling of being watched from above, she felt as if she was surrounded by the dangerous gnawing of a snake’s tongue. She had no choice but to grit her teeth and strike first.

Unfortunately, the person opposite seemed to have eyes everywhere at all times. The moment she summoned her immortal sword, she had already avoided it extremely quickly.

In a flash of lightning, with one move, she had already inexplicably appeared behind Qiu Runyu.

Fortunately, although Qiu Runyu hadn’t expected her to dodge the attack, she reacted extremely quickly, her form flashing rapidly.

The next attack came, but it still missed.

In this chase of you pursuing and me evading, although it looked like she was only defending and not attacking, Liu Changning didn’t show any signs of being flustered at all.

She actually didn’t dare to be careless, after all, the difference in cultivation was too great. If it wasn’t for today’s reliance on the state of unity between heaven and human, and her spiritual sense unexpectedly gaining such a benefit, forget about Qiu Runyu, even against the other ten Nascent Soul stage Elders present, she wouldn’t have had any chance of victory.

Now if she wanted to defeat Qiu Runyu, there was only one method: to drag it out, waiting for her to lose all patience, find a weakness, even if it was just a tiny flaw, it would be enough for Liu Changning to catch her off guard.

Sure enough, after several exchanges between the two.

Qiu Runyu’s patience was finally exhausted. With her Perfected Spirit stage cultivation several levels higher than Liu Changning’s, plus holding an immortal sword in hand.

Yet in the magical battle, she had been unable to subdue a junior for so long. If this matter spread, it would surely become a laughingstock among the major sects.

The overwhelming anger was thoroughly provoked by Liu Changning’s actions of leading her on a chase.

She concentrated, summoning Autumn Frost, channeling most of her spiritual power into the sword hilt. The Autumn Frost immortal sword was surrounded by a chilling sword intent, its light growing brilliantly. The bone-piercing sharpness locked onto Liu Changning, this time giving her no chance to escape.

Outside the light circle, the crowd in the trial grounds let out a collective gasp. When the Autumn Frost sword fell, they all thought the magical battle was over.

But they didn’t expect that Liu Changning, relying on her skilled combat experience and ghostly footwork, had long calculated the time to dodge.

Taking advantage of the moment when Qiu Runyu’s sword strike settled, she suddenly burst into action, summoning the Water Light Sword. Her form like a shadow, she quickly reached behind Old Taoist Qiu, swiftly holding the sword to pierce through Qiu Runyu’s protective light circle that had consumed most of her spiritual power.

The smug expression on Old Taoist Qiu’s face froze, she dodged in a fluster, but her left arm couldn’t evade in time and was slashed by the Water Light Sword’s edge, leaving a deep sword mark.

Blood seeped through her clothes, gathering into shocking drops that fell onto the jade disc below.

This unexpected turn of events left not only the Elders of the ten major sects, but almost everyone standing in place, sighing in astonishment.

Liu Changning didn’t give her any chance to recover, raising the Water Light Sword again, stabbing towards Qiu Runyu’s abdomen. It seemed that the great cultivator Sect Master Qiu was about to lose her life under the sword of a Yuan Ying stage cultivator.

Qiu Runyu suddenly raised her head, letting out a shrill laugh. The sticky feeling of being watched wouldn’t dissipate, and what was even more devastating to one’s mental defenses was that in a magical battle with a low-level cultivator, she had actually been forced to retreat to this extent.

Her eyes turned red, her white hair flying behind her. At the moment the Water Light Sword entered her body, Qiu Runyu’s form suddenly exploded, and a mass of black qi quickly spilled out.

Looking closely again, a strange banner covered in yin spirits appeared in the hemp-clothed Taoist’s hand. As this banner was raised, black mist quickly spread within the light circle, and yin souls were in an uproar. White bone grievance spirits all rushed towards Liu Changning. Under the attack of the dense black and gloomy yin souls, the Water Light Sword quickly lost its luster.

“Seven Ghost Soul-Devouring Banner!” Tian Jing exclaimed with a solemn face.

Exchanging glances with the other Elders, their faces no longer showed simple surprise but terror.

The legendary Seven Ghost Soul-Devouring Banner could only be sealed by Tribulation Crossing stage ancestors. This item was extremely evil.

It was the natal magical artifact of the Blood Demon Taoist who once dominated the Demon Race ten thousand years ago. Later in the Immortal-Demon war, Tribulation Crossing stage ancestors joined forces to kill the Blood Demon, and the Seven Ghost Soul-Devouring Banner vanished without a trace.

They never imagined that this item would be in the hands of Qiu Runyu, the well-known good person of Blacke Gate, and had been refined by her. It should be known that the Seven Ghost Soul-Devouring Banner requires living people as sacrifices. For such an evil item to appear in the hands of a sect leader, how could it not be shocking?

Just as the several Elders were shocked and changing color, the dense fog from the banner had already enveloped Liu Changning, all the yin souls merging into her body. The little black bird increased the frequency of its wing flapping, just about to make a move when suddenly the mystic ice light around Liu Changning intensified greatly.

A sword appeared from within her body, the long sword sharp, its body surrounded by lightning, divine light shining brilliantly, emitting a humming sword sound.

As soon as it appeared, the ghosts in the banner wailed and fled. Liu Changning, with a cold face, gripped Cang Ming, the sword in her hand.

Cang Ming let out a “joyful” sword hum. The immortal sword’s soul was heart to heart with Liu Changning. For tens of thousands of years, the person and the sword had not fought side by side. Feeling Cang Ming’s excitement, Liu Changning swallowed the blood rushing up her throat, person and sword merged into one, transforming into a white light, charging towards the black mist.